The Grenada gazette. (Grenada, Miss.) 1885-18??, 1887-12-03
TIE PORTLAND VASE


history Of = Piece of Art Moro rsmou
Than the Peachbiow.
In a certain way every body know
about the Portland vase, and yet tn
other day l stumbled on an interesting
fact concerning it. little known o
rather forgotten III England. excep
among collectors and connoisseurs II
art. At its sale the little peachblov
vase that Mary Jane Morgan wa:
forced to leave behind her did moi
create half nor quarter of the sensation
in America as did that of the Portland
Ease in Europc. Now you a find the
latter in the British Museum. It is
kept in a transparent case in q small
ante.room devoted TO an unequalcd
collection of canoes, intaglios and
tho miracles Of Roman Etruscan and
Grecian work in gold. The atmos-
phere is a fit for this gem in glass,
found, in IL marble tomb. near Rome,
four hundred years ago, and for near
ly three centuries treasured in the
famous palace Of Barberini.
The vase stands only ten inches
high. Its shape is the perfection Of
symmetry-broad at the center and
diminishing gradually at the base,
but to a more marked degree at the
neck, and finally expanding there with
q fower-like curve, the curyc re-
peated again in the two handles. The
substance is glass of a rich but in
tenscly deep blue, throwing into abso-
lutte relief classical and exquisite fig
ures in opaque white glass. A micro
scope fails to detect a flaw in the cut
ting of these groups, supposed to rep
resent the meeting of Thetis and Pc
leius on Mount Thelion in the pres
of Poissidon and Eros. On the
bottom of the vase is its most remark
able piece of cutting, a bust of Atys.
The English chapter in the history
of the vase began in 1770, when Mr.
the antiquarian, succeeded in
purchasing it. He in turn sold it to
Sir William Hamilton, who. unfortu-
nate in china as in matrimony, gave
It to the Duke of Portland for 1,S00
yuineas, or about SO, 600. In the course
time a sale of the Portland proper
y. including tie precious ornament.
vas held. The Duchess of Portland, a
proud and impprious woman, was
present for the purpose of buying in
he vase. To her horror and disgust
he found u competitor for its purchase
II the little, lame, pock-marked china
manufacturer, Josiah Wcdgwood. To
he Duchess this was intolerablc, and
he began the bidding in n spirited
ranner, determined to speedily put
own the son of a common Stafford
hire potter.
Wcdgwooa, however. was as deter
mined as the Duchess to become the
wncr of the vase, and had a higher
lotive than family pride at the bot
ON of his desire. The bids rapidly
an mp, and a chill of fear seized the
Duchess as they mounted, for her purse
I'D its limits, and at last, in anger
nd despair, she made her final offer,
AS outbid. and rushed from the room.
n a few moments a message was
rought to MI. Wedgwood to the effect
nat her Grace wished to speak with
i'm in private. What passed at the
lterview no one even knew with ey-
%ctness, but it is presumed that a wom-
Il in tears effected what q Duchess
\ anger could not-and won
the gentle instincts of the work
son what the great and ambiii-
us art manufacturer never would have
At any rate, the Duchess
ep. the vase. and Josiah Wedgwood
the sole right for himself and
cir5 to reproduce fifty copies of it
very one hundred years.
In 1910 the Dlkc of Portland, who
lstIy felt that this famous work of art
lould no longer be kept for the salts
'ction of the few, placed it iu the
ritish Museum, where it at once ,
rought a visit from the art-lovers of
le world. Until 1916 it remained as E,
as when pluckcd from the grave
,llr centuries before, but at this time
drunken mechanic, who in some way
OF into the sacred ante-room, smashed
with II stone into q thousand pieces.
The bits were afterward collected,
nd with infinite skill cemented by an
spcrt in such a way that the seams
III scarcely be observed, while the
lane is Observation-Disclosures Letter.